Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an MFP (Multi-Functional Peripheral), and a technology related to the image forming apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Some MFPs and the like (image forming apparatuses) have a web access function (web browser function). Specifically, there are MFPs that can access various websites through web browsers and display contents of the various websites on their display units.
Moreover, it is characteristic of an MFP to be placed in a company or the like and shared among a plurality of users. Due to such a characteristic and the like, an MFP having the web browser function may be desired to restrict websites that the MFP can access to only part of sites.
For example, in terms of the MFP's access to websites, especially the assurance of security is strongly desired. It is especially preferable in the MFP that the MFP is allowed to access only websites that have been judged to be secure. On the other hand, it is especially preferable that the MFP is prohibited to access websites that have been judged to be insecure or websites that have not yet been judged to be secure.
Moreover, the MFP may access sites (cloud servers) that provide various services (such as OCR services and/or translation services), and use the processing results of the services. For example, there is a technology and the like that transmit a scanned image generated by the MFP to a site that provides OCR services, receive an OCR processing result from the website, and create an electronic document embedded with character information based on the OCR processing result. Such service providing sites include those which provide their services on a chargeable basis. From the point of charging management such as in-house management, it may be desired to narrow websites to be used to only specific websites in order, for example, to prevent charging management target sites from reaching to a large number. As described above, from the point of security, it may also be desired to narrow down to part of the service providing sites.
In this manner, it may be desired in an MFP having the web browser function to narrow its access target websites.
JP 2003-186842 A describes a technology for restricting access to sites on the Internet to only part of the sites (access permitted sites), which is not a technology related to an image forming apparatus but a technology related to a mobile phone.
In an MFP having the web browser function, if the access permitted sites (websites that the MFP is permitted access) are restricted to part of sites, a user may want to change the restriction (for example, want to change part of the restriction settings). For example, the user may also make a request to access a website that has already been judged to be secure but has not yet been registered as the permitted website.
In such a case, it is conceivable that the user requests an administrator by telephone or electronic mail to make a change to a setting that allows access to the desired website (the unregistered website) by, for example, adding the desired website to the permitted sites. The setting change (restriction change) is made by the administrator who has been requested.
However, the processing of the request made by telephone and the like is complicated for the user. Specifically, the user checks who the administrator of the MFP is, contact information (for example, a telephone number or electronic mail address) of the administrator, and the like, contacts the administrator, and conveys a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the desired website to the administrator, orally or by describing the URL in an electronic mail.